Our original idea was to find our way from the western limit of the Alaska Marine Highway System at Dutch Harbor, direct to the most remote and obscure Aleutian Island that’s realistic to visit, Adak Island. There’s something about the remoteness that is just attractive. But it turns out there’s no simple or affordable way. Hence we got back on the ferry, took it as far as Cold Bay, stayed one night (because why not), flew back to Anchorage, then flew 2,500 km to Adak on an Alaska Airlines commercial flight.

We woke up that last morning on the ferry, July 13, had breakfast, packed up and said good-bye at Cold Bay at 9:45. We were staying at the only hotel in town, the Bearfoot Inn, and the owner, Chris, met the ferry to pick us up. Connie, the other owner, welcomed us in, showed us our rooms and opened the store so we could buy food for dinner – there are no restaurants in Cold Bay. We were the only guests. The store is the only one in town, open for three hours, four days a week. We got settled then went for a walk around the town. Very little was happening; I think we saw one other person in a couple of hours. I ended up doing a longer walk, 8 km, including going back down to the ferry terminal and all around town and more.

We had lunch, a rest, then a second walk later in the afternoon. We saw three disk golf baskets and some nice scenery but again, not much human action. We had a simple dinner, mine was frozen pasta, half a can of clam chowder, and for dessert, most of a can of smoked clams.

In the morning after breakfast we walked to the Izembek Visitor Center we had visited before and met with the Refuge Manager, Maria. She spent lots of time with us but was careful not to answer any question that could possibly be interpreted as remotely political (all the interesting questions). After we walked back it was time to check into our flight so Connie drove us the short distance to the terminal. It was surprisingly modern and normal looking inside. We wondered where the 20 or so people in there had been hiding in town. We had an hour to kill then sat in the first row on the Saab 2000 propeller plane for the two hours to Anchorage. We touched down at Sand Point briefly, then landed at Anchorage after 3pm.

We quickly got a rental car and drove downtown. First up was the Public Lands Information Center where we watched a good film on the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake. After the center closed we did some souvenir and grocery shopping, had dinner at the brewery, then headed out to Rainbow Valley and stayed with our friend Cynthia again. She welcomed us and I got the same little cabin as before. In the morning we all went for a walk, relaxed a bit, had lunch, chatted, then my mom and I drove further out to Girdwood for dinner with friends there. It was really a great time with delicious salmon chowder, roasted kale from the garden, rhubarb bread, etc. In the evening we had a real treat, Cynthia’s friend Art Davidson visited. Back in the 70s I read his award-winning climbing book, Minus 148 Degrees, and loved it immensely. He was so gracious and full of stories – and he brought us a delicious rhubarb pie! I reread his book on this trip and it still is a fantastic, gripping read. Way to go Art!

The next day we said good-bye at 9am. This was a super exciting day for us, the part of the trip both of us were most looking forward to, flying to Adak Island. Even though it is a very remote and obscure island, it still has commercial air service by Alaska Airlines, twice a week. Our plane had a mechanical issue, then a couple of gate changes, but we finally did fly, 90 minutes late.

We flew west and south for almost three hours. Adak is the furthest west place in the US and the city is the southernmost in Alaska. It’s in a different time zone, Aleutian time (aka Hawaiian time). Look on the map and it’s halfway to Japan! The 737 was about a quarter full, so we both had window seats but it was mostly cloudy. The first thing we saw on landing was a sign at the airport, “Welcome to Adak, Alaska, birthplace of the Winds.” I like that. The terminal was crowded with people waiting to return to Anchorage – because the previous flight, four days ago, had been cancelled.

We were staying at the Adak Island Inn but didn’t see anyone obviously from there. It was so close we walked over, but the office was locked with no one around. I went back to the airport and found Adam, our man. He explained logistics, drove me around a bit and then showed us our apartment. At the peak there were 6,000 people living on Adak and it was a happening city. Now there are something like 27 full time residents. A few of the old housing units have been maintained and the Adak Island Inn has 16 of them. Ours turned out to be way nicer than we expected, 2-story, 2 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, with laundry, a nice kitchen, living room, Starlink internet, etc. Most of the buildings are derelict though and sad looking.

We had reserved a car and Adam delivered it right away. It turned out to be perfect for the roads of Adak, a Silverado pickup, beat up and dirty, no driver’s side door handle or license plate, but with high clearance, good tires and 4WD. We immediately headed out of town. For our first hike, we picked the Betty Lake trail from Finger Bay at random. The road was rough, just barely 2WD. We parked at the end and I walked up to the lake. The weather was cloudy and cool. We didn’t see another person on the whole trip. It is green everywhere. Cars aren’t locked on Adak, keys stay in, and everybody waves to every vehicle.

Back in town it was time for dinner but it turned out the store was closed (and it had been for weeks – their generator is kaput) and both restaurants were closed as well. Luckily we had been warned and brought some food, but not enough for the full three days. We had Art’s rhubarb pie plus other foods for dinner and then settled down to sleep.

July 17 dawned bright and sunny! We couldn’t believe our luck. After a quick breakfast we headed out. I wanted to get a view of town so our first destination was a nearby hill called Bering Hill. It turned out we could drive all the way up it and the view was spectacular.

I saw another nearby hill on the map called White Alice and drove up there next. Again we could drive all the way to the summit. Both hills had all kinds of old building stuff laying around. At close to 177°W, White Alice is as far west as one can drive on Adak. The view in all directions was amazing.

Next up was Clam Lagoon, north of town. 4WD was required due to sand at the start then we found the road was completely gone. So we hiked on sandy trails, stopping to look at a bunch of Harbor Seals sunning themselves, then clambered down steeply to the Candlestick bridge which had an eagle on it. It’s an amazing spot. I could see tire tracks on the other side so we knew we could drive around and make it all this way. We explored the beach, then eventually looped back to the truck. We drove back around the Lagoon the other way, with a long stop to watch otters at the far end. They were playing around, looking like they’re in heaven.

We drove most of the way to the bridge stopping twice for hikes. The views in all directions were amazing. I was starting to think that instead of a once in a lifetime trip, this might be just my first visit to Adak. Lake Shirley and Janet Cove were really nice.

We drove back toward town, taking a detour out to Andrew Lake to see the ancient Rec Center. We took the long way back and stopped at a funny place, the Adak National Forest. As we pulled up, we laughed because the sign says “Entering and Leaving Adak National Forest”. It’s a compact grove of 33 trees that looks out of place on an otherwise nearly tree-less island.

After that we drove out the back way to the other side of Andrew lake. We took the shorefront route back to town and were shocked at how many of the derelict housing units looked like a bomb had gone off next to them. I guess the winds here can be monstrous in winter…

We had a couple of hours for showers and looking through photos before dinner. Adak Soul restaurant wasn’t open that day (or anytime during our visit) but the Tundra Tavern was, so we drove over and sure enough, it was a spacious friendly place with food and beer! If the light outside is on, the generator is on and they are open. Our problems were over. We had a some interesting Alaskan IPAs and a giant veggie pizza that two of us could only eat ⅝ of. Breakfast for tomorrow is solved too! We talked with other visitors and really enjoyed dinner.

The next day was our last full day on Adak, July 18. I did not sleep well, waking up often and every time, I heard rain pounding on the roof. But in the morning it stopped and by the time we were done with our pizza breakfast, the sun was out! We couldn’t believe our luck, it was just as good as yesterday. I had reserved a bike for today so picked that up from the office at 8am. It was a new fat tired e-Bike, 4″ tires, 70 pounds, what a monster, but it was yellow.

We had saved the trip to the northernmost point for today. But before going up there I wanted to checked out a famous spot nearby called “The Seven Doors of Doom”. It’s an old site with seven bunkers where nuclear weapons were stored. I guess it should be on your list when you visit.

Then finally out to the furthest point north, Loran Station Adak. The road was pretty rough and slow, 4WD. We had been told we could drive all the way but stopped short, not willing to risk driving between two rubber smeared boulders that looked to be the width of the truck or less apart. Luckily I could turn around there and we proceeded on bike and foot. Riding the bike was super fun. When I came to a long section of deep water, I lifted both feet and used the throttle – it worked great! I rode all the roads and trails I could find plus some off trail through thick grass. The views across Andrew Bay to the 950m point above were amazing.

I rode back a bit down the road and discovered another place we had heard about: a steep trail down to a beautiful beach with a rope for assistance. We drove back that way and I climbed down it, harder and more athletic than it looked. At the bottom it was ridiculous slogging through waist deep plants, slippery with invisible holes but by then I was committed so had to complete it. The beach was like a little private paradise. Just amazing. Going up I was able to avoid using the rope.

From there we drove back to Clam Lagoon and my mom stayed at the scenic otter viewing place while I went for a ride. I explored some abandoned buildings, repeated our route to Lake Andrew, then circumnavigated Clam Lagoon, including riding the missing part of the road to the bridge. The bike goes over soft sand, bushes, anything, steep up or down.

I found an old overgrown road towards the point and took that. It ended at a parking loop but then I saw it used to go up the hill to the top. Could the bike possibly make it? It was SO steep. It was at the limit for the motor but just barely possible with me pedaling hard. Nice! What a view from up there, in all directions.

I took another old overgrown road down, then cruised the dirt road we had driven, back to the truck. It was a great loop, about 20 km. We had lunch in the sun, then headed back south. We stopped at the other forest, called The Elfin Forest, also imported spruce trees to make the guys stationed here feel more at home.

By now the weather was getting cloudy but it was only 2:30 so we picked another trail to check out. We drove back through town then up to the Huffy Pass Trailhead. My mom walked a bit of it while I got on the bike and explored in several directions. The power of that thing let me get to some comical places, but it was starting to rain so I headed back after a short 8 km.

I was getting tired so we headed back and showered, then drove over to the Tundra Tavern to see if we were eating dinner tonight or making do with trail mix in our apartment. We were in luck, the light was on! We went for the fish and chips this time. And I tried yet another Alaskan IPA. Each night we also bought grapefruit juice cans for the next morning. This time, we were the only customers so had a nice chat with the bartender, who also is the Alaska baggage person at the airport. She also has a third job doing some kind of maintenance and just quit her fourth job. She’s young and energetic and lives here all year and loves it. Warning: prices are not what you’re used to in the lower 48 in the tavern. We spent well over $200 for two dinners and a souvenir T-shirt and coffee mug. As we left, two women we met the night before were arriving and I told them they were too late as the cook had just left. “That’s ok we’re just coming for the drinks”. And they had extra snacks they gifted us.

In the morning we woke up to light rain. We had breakfast, then checked into our flights: Adak → Anchorage → Seattle → San Francisco. We packed up and headed to the gas station to replace the gas we had used. After a while the guy came out and cheerfully helped us. He’s lived here for 10 years with his wife and loves it. The gas price is about the same as in Italy. 7 gallons was $45. Although it was raining we did one more short hike down by the waterfront, but with low clouds everywhere we couldn’t see much. The contrast made us feel lucky about the previous days. All in all, I have to really recommend Adak as an awesome and adventurous travel destination. I can’t wait to come back! And Adak Island Inn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐! Note: ATT is supposed to work in town but didn’t for us. Offline maps like Open Street Maps are key for getting around. They are staggeringly accurate and complete. As on the ferries and in Cold Bay, Starlink is a game changer.

Our flight from Adak was right on time, and we had plenty of time at the airport in Anchorage for a nice dinner. The flight to Seattle was delayed a little but got us there. Unfortunately our final flight was cancelled and the automatic rebooking changed a short layover into 28 hours. We managed to fix that but still the delay was 10 hours, making the trip into sort of a marathon. I like Adak way better than the Seattle airport! Thanks Katie❤️ for the airport pickup – the final part of the trip home was so fun and easy. Door to door Adak to Santa Cruz was 30 hours!

Back on July 7, we were in Homer, staying with friends. After a nice breakfast on the 8th, we borrowed a car and drove to a cool local grocery store called Save U More. It is still in Alaska so didn’t shock us with its low prices but we did manage to get lunch and snack provisions for our ferry trip. We also did a load of laundry, a simple but very welcome thing on a trip like this.

We picked up Pam at her house and drove down to the beach for a walk. The weather had improved to 100% perfect, warm and sunny, I think kind of rare for Homer. We walked to the shore and I even waded in – the water felt warmer than in Santa Cruz but maybe I was just imagining that. Pam had us over for lunch after and she served the best-ever salmon chowder.

After lunch, Tom drove all of us out to see his cabin, some distance out of town. He and his family used to live there all year, skiing in the last mile from where the road is plowed. It’s a gorgeous site, up about 400m, surrounded by open space land that has lots of ski trails in the winter.

We had an early dinner at Tom’s house; he went all out and marinated a big piece of black cod, my absolute favorite fish. I hadn’t had any for a long time and it was so tasty. Also some halibut, salad and roasted veggies that we bought at Save U More. Dessert was an amazing homemade rhubarb pie with ice-cream. We are finding rhubarb everywhere in Alaska and that’s a great thing. Tom drove us down to the ferry terminal, out at the end of the Homer Spit. We arrived at the perfect time, two hours before the 9pm departure. We checked in and waited only five minutes before boarding. Getting on early gave us a great choice of camping spots on the top deck Solarium.

The Tustumena recently celebrated her 60th birthday and is a mainstay of the Alaskan State Maritime Highway system. My mom had ridden on her a few times before but it was my first time. We settled in and enjoyed being out on the deck in warm, sunny weather. It was a little loud from the engines up on the Solarium but I slept well that first night, all night long.

In the morning, we landed at Kodiak Island where we had visited in 2017. We landed around 7am and walked along the water to a coffee shop for breakfast. We checked out the Russian Church, then split up – I went for a longer walk out to the airport, looping back along the water, about 8 km. When I got back, the Kodiak History Museum was open so we went in. They had lots of great exhibits – my favorite was a waterproof gut-parka on display.

We left Kodiak at noon, and now we were on new ground (water) for me. Unfortunately the weather crapped out a bit. I was taking a nap up in the Solarium in the afternoon and when I woke up my sleeping bag was wet. It turned out the gaskets around the glass roof pieces were leaking all over. The weather wasn’t improving so we moved down two decks and staked out a nice place in the movie theater. It’s small, and for the rest of the trip, we ended up sharing the space with a couple that had a big thick blow-up mattress. In the evening we docked at Old Harbor, but it was so rainy and windy that we both opted out of going ashore. This turned out to be very lucky because a giant piece of construction equipment had to be unloaded and it was about one inch narrower than the gangway for vehicles. So it took about half an hour to unload during which time all passengers who had gone ashore were forced to wait in the rain. After a nice dinner in the dining room, I slept well in the theater.

Our next day on the Tustumena featured two landings. In the morning we visited Chignik and in the late evening, just before sunset, we landed at Sand Point. Both of these landings were too short (about an hour) to really see the towns since in both cases, there was a 1-2 km walk from the ferry dock to the town. But in each, I picked a target, the Russian Church, then fast-walked there, took a photo and came back. I was the only passenger going all the way into town at both of these landings.

On the 11th of July, we had two landings in the morning. First at 6am, King Cove. Just like the previous two landings it required a really fast walk, quite a way, to get to “downtown”.

A few hours later we landed at Cold Bay. This was a special landing because we had three full hours. The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is near Cold Bay and the staff there really go out of their way. They brought two busses plus two trucks to give as many people as would fit a tour. There was a random lottery on board, with 58 people signing up for about 40 places. We were at breakfast when the results were announced and one of the guys we shared our table with ran out and photographed the highlighted and non-highlighted names. He and his buddy were split, as were the two of us. Ma graciously gave me her spot since she had been a couple of times. I knew it was important to her to go but we would be back in a few days so I took it. We landed and I boarded a bus. But I wasn’t all that surprised at the Visitor Center stop when she walked out of the other bus! She has her ways.

The Visitor Center had a great map, stuffed animals and some free gifts for us, then we loaded back up and drove about 14 km to the edge of the Izembek Lagoon. At Grant Point there is a viewing kiosk, nice and dry in the rain. It was raining lightly when I did the short hike to the point itself. The clouds were thick but it was still beautiful.

After everyone had a look we headed back and were treated to a short tour through some of the dirt roads of Cold Bay, then reboarded the ship just in time for lunch. Finally, at 5pm, we had our third landing of the day, at False Pass on Unimak Island. We were finally off the end of the Alaskan Peninsula, onto our first Aleutian Island. Again the town was a bit far but at least we had longer this time so it wasn’t such a rush and other passengers got to see the town. Other than the fish processing plant, nothing was happening although some enterprising kids were selling little pieces of glass for outrageous prices plus salmon poke and one kid offered me a 10 minute tour of the town for $10.

After another nice sleep in the theater, we woke up on July 12, the big day we’d been waiting for where we got to visit Dutch Harbor for eight hours. There was also a 5am stop at Akutan, but we both just turned over and went back to sleep, knowing we would stop there at a more reasonable time on the trip back. We landed at Dutch Harbor, the furthest west point served by the ferry system, at 9:30. We quickly spotted a taxi-van and climbed aboard. All the other people were only going to the airport but the driver was happy to take us all the way to Unalaska. We figured we’d start out far away and work our way back to the ferry throughout the day. From the Post Office we walked over a bridge and visited the Russian Church which was pretty. We walked all through the town but there was almost nothing open. We checked out a WW2 memorial park then called our taxi driver back.

She dropped us at the Museum of the Aleutians, maybe ⅔ of the way back to the ferry. The museum was great. I watched the whole show about the sad story of the forced evacuation of the Aleut people from these islands during WW2. It was just like the forced internment of Japanese Americans in California and other western states except the excuse here was that they needed to be protected from the Japanese. The Japanese did invade several Aleutian Islands in June, 1943. But these US citizens were taken away with one hour notice, allowed to bring one suitcase and all their houses and infrastructure were dynamited so the Japanese couldn’t use them. Another “not our finest hour” bit of history.

We looked around nearby for a restaurant and went in a fish processing company cafeteria but they would only serve employees. We walked over to a famous local place, the Norvegian Rat Saloon. It was big and friendly and had nice food and drinks, of course at Aleutian prices. I really enjoyed a shrimp sandwich lunch there and bought a souvenir beer glass. It was only 1.3 km to a World War II Visitor Center we wanted to visit so we walked over. It was closed for another half hour and we were getting a little tired so just walked the final 1.5 km back to the ferry, making it with over an hour to spare.

That evening was our last on the ferry and we had a nice final dinner in the dining room. Later we landed again at Akutan. Since we had slept through the previous landing early in the morning, this time we got off and walked all through town. The dock was right next to the town and the path was all boardwalk. The locals drive around in ATVs as cars wouldn’t fit on the boardwalks. In the last few minutes before leaving, I walked to a big church and saw the door was unlocked. I went in and the pastor welcomed me and gave me a tour. Connected next door was a full sized gym, with a beautiful basketball court. He showed me photos of the local soccer team and gave me a bible book.

Back on board we settled down to sleep for the last time this year on the Tustumena. The ferry is a really nice way to travel. Many of our fellow passengers were going the whole way, Homer → Dutch Harbor → Homer, which takes about eight days.

Back on July 3, we were in Juneau. After lunch we hiked with Ben and Irene on the Brotherhood Bridge Trail. It goes up the valley by the Mendenhall River, coming down from the famous Mendenhall Glacier, one of the “must-see” sights near Juneau. The forest is beautiful and the air feels really rich with oxygen due to the massive amount of green plants everywhere, but for me the enjoyment was tempered by the near constant streams of tourist helicopters. Juneau in the summer has basically been lost to cruise ships. There are usually four or five at a time (meaning around 10,000 people) and while you would think this would bring a ton of money to Juneau residents, actually the cruise ship companies own most of the stores downtown and put severe price pressure (and take large cuts) on things like helicopter tour fees. The area is still gorgeous of course, but even in places like this trail where no cruise ship passengers go, enjoyment is reduced by the constant noise.

We had a quick look downtown, where we had both been several times before. Then in the early evening Irene dropped us off at the airport for our flight to Anchorage. We had wanted to continue plane-less via the Cross Gulf Ferry to Whittier, then by train to Anchorage, but that ferry was not running this summer. On the bright side, the flight to Anchorage from Juneau is one of my absolute favorite most-scenic flights anywhere. The view as we flew over the Chugach Mountains, by Mount St. Elias, etc. was mind-blowing last time, as amazing as a flight in the Himalayas. This time we were on the wrong side of the plane and the clouds did not cooperate 100%, but it was still great. Sit on the right side for this flight!

In Anchorage we picked up a rental car and drove downtown to our hotel. We arrived at 11pm and settled in to sleep. In the morning the weather was nice so we walked outside onto the Ship Creek Trail and had a really nice walk. The creek is beautiful and we got to cross the tracks of the railroad we had taken last time all the way to Denali National Park.

Afterward, we walked up past the train station to downtown for lunch. We headed straight for the 49th State Brewing Company where we had really enjoyed the food and beer last time. By this time the weather was just perfect and as we got to the top of the hill, I was shocked to see Denali (the peak) sticking up, quite visible, even through it is over 200 km away. At over 6,000m tall, it sticks up enough to be visible at that distance but only on really clear days. Sorry no photo.

We figured the brewery would be open, even on July 4, but were surprised at how popular it was – an hour wait for a table. But no problem, they have a beer garden with shaded tables and food. We went to the “Cone Tainer” for amazing blueberry ice-cream cones. I went to get a beer and there was a little sign saying that they had a special triple dry-hopped version of the triple IPA version of their standard IPA! Of course I ordered that and it was stupendous, the best beer I’ve had this year or maybe in several years! Wow.

We shared our table with a couple and the woman had just arrived 30 minutes ago to spend a year in Anchorage. Finally the text came and we moved into the brew pub itself for lunch, although it was now more like an early dinner. We sat outside on one of the large decks and went to town. The food is great and when you have perfect weather, it’s just amazing there.

A long time later we staggered through downtown, and made it back to our hotel. We had missed the July 4th parade but had a great day. The next morning we took it easy, packed up and checked out. My mom’s luggage had broken in Juneau so we went on a mission to replace it. It’s a smallish backpack with wheels and we went to several stores downtown to find one like it. Eventually we got a recommendation for a big store out of town and drove over there. She found a normal wheeled carry-on that didn’t work as a backpack but would do the trick. Next up was food shopping – we had to go to Freddie Meyer’s and Freddie did not disappoint. The store was so big it was hard to see the far end of it!

We had some time before our friend south of Anchorage would be home so we drove up to a hiking area above town. I went on a fast hike which was nice but again, a little scary/stressful since I was alone and the signs say there are lots of bears around and we were in prime bear season. But there were some bikers and a few other hikers and I didn’t end up seeing any bears. I didn’t find a viewpoint where I could see over Anchorage either. Still, it was a nice hike.

Then we headed south and stopped at a few places along the Seward Highway, on the way to Rainbow Valley where we were staying that night. I finally got to walk all the boardwalks at Potter’s Marsh, a popular bird-watching spot. I saw a couple of bald eagles as well as others. We tried going for another hike but as we started some guys told us they had just seen a huge bear at the start of the trail so we bailed on that.

We drove up the dirt road to Rainbow Valley and were welcomed by my mom’s friend Cynthia. She lives in an off-grid cabin (not in winter) that is so peaceful and nice. Her original cabin is smaller and was not rented just then so I got to stay in it. She had made lots of rhubarb pie and salmon for a July 4th party and needed our help working on the leftovers – that was awesome!

The next day we had a walk up the hill in the morning, then drove down to the town of Indian around noon to meet my friend Ben and his family, coming home from a backpacking trip. Ben was on my unicycle racing team that competed in the 150 mile Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay in 2017 and 2018. His son and daughter are skilled unicyclists too and it was fantastic to reconnect after all those years. We met at a funny place I remembered called the Indian Valley Mine. I remembered it had to do with unicycling but not the details. Sure enough when we arrived I remembered the sign showing the daughter delivering coffee on unicycle and her dad showed us his big collection of unicycles. Then she showed up herself and showed us she still had it by easily riding a tiny 12″ unicycle!

After a great visit we headed back up to Rainbow Valley. Cynthia took us on another nice walk to a neighbor’s house in the afternoon. We took their trail from the road and it was quite far to the house! Off grid, off road! Amazing place with a killer view. My mom knew these neighbors from long ago and loved hanging out reminiscing.

More salmon and rhubarb pie was had and we settled down to sleep again. In the morning it was raining but by the time we were packed to leave it had eased. We drove back to Anchorage and I dropped my mom at a hotel downtown for a Sierra Club meeting. Then I met Ben and his son Max at a park for a unicycle ride. They had borrowed a 36″ uni for me so we got to ride the Coastal Trail as we did back in 2017. It felt so nostalgic to be on an ungeared 36″ uni with short cranks – my first time on a uni like that in years. It’s a unique feel, rolling so smoothly and easily. After maybe 10 km, past the airport, Ben said we were getting to the less travelled part of the trail where we were much more likely to see bears or moose. Sure enough, we did see a moose watching us ride by. But no bears.

We ended up riding 24 km and while it was cool and cloudy, it didn’t really rain. What a treat! THANKS you guys! After that I picked up my mom, we had lunch in a park, then dropped off our rental car at the airport and checked in to our flight to Homer. The plane was tiny so we each had to check in one of our carry-ons. Every thing we had was weighed and they carefully wrote down our weights too. When we walked to the gate and were amazed: there was no security, no TSA, just a pleasant gate, like in the old days.

The flight was just under half an hour, only up to 14,000′ and didn’t have much of a view. We landed in Homer and were met by our friend Tom and his grand-daughter. We had stayed with Tom before and his house is just as beautiful and cozy as I remembered. We drove to a nearby friend’s house for dinner. Tom had caught a bunch of salmon and his neighbor Pam cooked them up into a true Alaskan feast. My mom had stayed with Pam many times so the dinner was another great reunion for her. After we were stuffed, out came the ice-cream: five types, all homemade, all to die for. Wow! We made plans for the next day, headed back to Tom’s and settled in to sleep.

We’ve still got another 12 days of this adventure to go…tomorrow we head off on our next ferry adventure.

June 21, 2025 was a full day of travel, the day after the Milano San Remo tour ended. After breakfast and many good-byes, I walked down to the bus station with Eddy – he was so nice to help me carry my box. It was hard enough for two, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it by myself. Graham and Nick were also there, all of us headed to the Nice airport. The bus came on time and we joined the queue to board. When it came to my turn, the driver said he couldn’t take my bike box. The fine print on their list of restricted things includes anything packed in cardboard. Reason: fire hazard. I can’t really imagine my bike box spontaneously combusting but that is the rule and he was unbendable. He said the police routinely inspect the bus and it would be bad if my box was aboard.

So everyone else got to go and I didn’t. Lex and Jesper had also come down since they were scheduled to go on a later bus. They wanted to see how it works. Lex had done some research on taxis and after seeing Uber doesn’t work, I tried Radio Taxi San Remo at his recommendation. The only way was by phone and it immediately put me on hold. The next company I tried required two hours notice for a booking. So I walked into a fancy five-star hotel called the Europa Palace, right at the bus stop. The super nice guy at the desk immediately wanted to help when I explained the problem. He was on the phone for a minute, then said, “A large van taxi will be at the bus stop in five minutes.” Wow, problem solved. Always ask a local when you need help like that.

Jesper definitely wanted to go along since he had the same type of box. Lex decided to go too, for simplicity. That was great for me since we got to split the fare three ways. We drove to the hotel, got the other bikes and headed off, along the same highway I drove with Wijnand two days earlier. Our taxi was singled out at the French border, and had to pull over, but we only had to show passports. They looked in the back but didn’t make us open the boxes. We heard later the bus also got stopped and searched. At the airport, I said goodbye and headed into the terminal. My flight didn’t open for 15 minutes but the line was so long I joined it at the end. By check-in time (2.5 hours before takeoff), I had progressed all the way to the start of the check-in area, but then had to wait another 20 minutes because earlier flights had priority. I passed the time talking to a German Ironman dude and his dad, they wanted to hear all about our cycling trips. Finally we were allowed into the line which then took an hour or so. At check-in they wanted at unknown amount of money for my bike. I asked how much and it took 15 minutes on the phone for the agent to determine that it was €244.27 exactly. I explained how that was not right and United no longer charges for bikes, but time was getting short so I finally agreed to pay. I passed her my card and she looked embarrassed. I asked what was wrong and she said, “Next time book with Lufthansa direct” or something like that. They had no way to accept a payment which was perfect for me. A super nice lady took the box off my hands at the oversized bag drop and I proceeded to the security check. It was easy, and I got to the gate. Suffice to say their system could improve and it took an hour and we took off 45 minutes late. It was super busy but the whole thing was lame. A lady I met at the San Remo bus station said hi while I was waiting and was happy to see I had made it.

The flight to Frankfurt was quick but again, maintaining a record that goes back a number of times, I landed after boarding of the next flight had already started. I had to run from gate A1 to gate Z19. At passport control in the middle, the guy helpfully told me, “You have to run, it’s the last gate. GO!” I arrived with a bunch of out of breath people, just as my boarding group was having last call so went straight onto the plane, with 15 minutes to spare. At take-off time, my tracker said my bike was on the other side of the airport and the United app showed it arriving from Nice, but not loaded in the plane. But one minute later it popped up, during an announcement from the pilot apologizing for the delay to load some last minute bags.

So we flew together and soon (not really), we landed on time in San Francisco. After Nice and Frankfurt, it’s funny how efficient everything was in San Francisco. Look in the camera, immigration done. The bike came pretty quickly and Frannie drove up right when I got out. She very graciously lent me her car and I dropped her off and drove home to Santa Cruz. Door to door time was about 22 hours.

The cool dry air of Santa Cruz felt so good after being warm and sweaty. The next morning Katie and I went for a bike ride, then later we went to the beach – the water was too cold for me to get all the way in but she did. We walked to a nearby park for dinner. As always, it is really nice to be home although I loved the trip, even though the riding wasn’t as good as it could’ve been if I were healthy. The Italian antibiotics are doing their thing and I’m feeling a lot better.

Valdeblore, France to San Remo, Italy

Today my plan was to ride about 70 km from lunch, skipping the two big climbs in the morning. But the more I thought about it the less smart that seemed. In the end, after a nice breakfast, I took a walk around the village then rode to San Remo with Wijnand in the luggage truck.

We drove down the river to Nice, then along the highway just missing Monaco, into Italy, and finally to San Remo, a bit under two hours driving time. We stopped at a supermarket and bought soup ingredients, drinks and lunch for ourselves, then checked in at the hotel. Even though it was before noon, my room was ready which was nice. But first I helped Wijnand bring in all the bags – we got so sweaty. Here at sea level, it’s hot and a little humid.

After a cold shower I went online and made an appointment to consult with an Italian doctor. Here’s the site if you ever need this – they take US insurance. You give them your information and they come back with a set of doctors and their prices and available times. At first the best they could do was tomorrow morning for €28. But as I was considering accepting, an offer came in for €40 right away. The price depends on the doctor’s years of experience. I took that one and the doctor WhatsApp’d me in seconds. The whole process runs on WhatsApp and is so easy and smooth. We video chatted for 20 minutes and he prescribed antibiotics. I walked down to the the pharmacy and for €3.27, I was set. I really doubt you could get service like this for anywhere near this price in the US. We are far behind in so many ways.

We hung out and relaxed in the afternoon, down in the lobby until dinner time. Our hotel is old and classic (built in 1888), with high ceilings, wood everywhere, but with modern rooms. We had another group dinner and I sat at Wilbert’s table. It was fun hearing many interesting stories of mishaps and other adventures of the early Bike Dreams trips. He presented the final stage for tomorrow, a shorter ride; I’m not sure if I’ll do it or not. Tomorrow night’s dinner will be the end of the tour.